American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 51

Unit photography by Mark Rogers, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

Opposite and this
page, left: In the
sci-fi thriller Alien:
Covenant, a colony
ship touches down
on a planet that
appears to be an
uncharted paradise
but soon reveals
unimaginable
horrors. Below:
Cinematographer
Dariusz Wolski,
ASC (left) and
director Ridley
Scott examine a
setup.

set 10 years after the events depicted in
Prometheus. The film marks a return to
hardcore terror, with Scott and Wolski
pushing the boundaries of both their
visuals and the audience's nerves while
taking another step toward revealing the
origins of the Xenomorph, the lethal
alien from the original film. The story
follows the crew on the spaceship
Covenant, which is en route to establish
a new outpost for humanity when the
mission is thrown off course and many
of the crew and passengers are killed.
The survivors find what they think is an
uncharted paradise and consider
making it their new home, but they
quickly learn that they're trapped in a
world more frightening and deadly than
they could have possibly imagined.
For the production, Wolski paired
Arri Alexa XT and Mini cameras -
recording ArriRaw files - with
Angenieux Optimo DP Rouge 1642mm (T2.8) and 30-80mm (T2.8)
zooms, a Panavision 19-90mm (T2.8)
Primo Compact Zoom, and Panavision
PVintage primes. Final color correction
was performed at Deluxe's Company 3
in Santa Monica, Calif., where colorist
Stephen Nakamura worked with
Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve
12.5 to grade 2132x1374-resolution
EXR files for a 2048x858 theatrical

release; Nakamura also did trim passes
for the Dolby Vision 2D and Imax 2D
theatrical formats.
Shortly before Covenant's release,
AC spoke with Wolski and Scott about
their ongoing collaboration and filmmaking philosophies.
American Cinematographer: Let's
start at the beginning. How did the two
of you first become aware of each other's
work and begin working together?
Dariusz Wolski, ASC: In a way
I've been doing homework for working
with Ridley for my entire career. I first
www.theasc.com

encountered his work in 1979, when I
came over from Poland, having finished
[studying at the] Polish film school in
Lodz, and saw Alien - and then, of
course, Blade Runner [AC July '82].
When I saw Blade Runner for the first
time, I left the theater, went outside, and
got right back in line to see it again
because I was just so blown away by it.
It wasn't just me - there was something about Ridley's work that spoke to
my whole generation. I remember doing
early music videos for David Fincher
and a lot of what we did referenced
Alien and Blade Runner in some way.➣
June 2017

51



http://www.theasc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - June 2017

Contents
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - Intro
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 1
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 2
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - Contents
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 4
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 5
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 6
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 7
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 8
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 9
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 10
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 11
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 12
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 13
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 14
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 15
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 16
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 17
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 18
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 19
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 20
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 21
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 22
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 23
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 24
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 25
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 26
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 27
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 28
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 29
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 30
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 31
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 32
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 33
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 33A
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 33B
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 34
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 35
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 36
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 37
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 38
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 39
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 40
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 41
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 42
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 43
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 44
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 45
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 46
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 47
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 48
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 49
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 50
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 51
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 52
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 53
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 54
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 55
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 56
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 57
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 58
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 59
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 60
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 61
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 62
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 63
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 64
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 65
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 66
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 67
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 68
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American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 70
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 71
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 72
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 73
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 74
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 75
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American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 78
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 79
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 80
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 81
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 82
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 83
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 84
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 85
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 86
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 87
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 88
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 89
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 90
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - 91
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American Cinematographer - June 2017 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - June 2017 - Cover4
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